PHILADELPHIA - The visiting Canisius College Golden Griffins shot 48 percent from the
field, 58.3 percent from 3-point range and 92.9 percent from the free-throw
line in the game's final 20 minutes while out scoring the host Temple Owls by a
44-26 clip en route to a 72-62 victory Wednesday night in the Chevrolet Gotham
Classic at The Liacouras Center. The win moves Canisius to 8-2 on the year,
while the Owls slipped to 8-2 in 2012-13.

Junior guard Billy Baron scored a game-high 19 points to lead four Canisius
players in double figures while dishing out five assists. Senior Isaac Sosa added 13 points, with 10 of
those points coming in the second half, while senior Harold Washington and junior Reggie
Groves chipped in 12 points apiece for the Blue and Gold, as the program
picked up its first win over Temple in five tries, dating back to the 1943-44
season. Canisius drained 10 3-point field goals in the win on Wednesday night,
with seven coming after intermission and the Griffs ended the contest with a
41-35 advantage on the glass, as junior Chris
Manhertz (13 rebounds) and sophomore Josiah
Heath (11 rebounds) tallied 24 of the team's 41 boards.

"We stayed aggressive throughout the
game on defense and we did a great job making the extra pass on offense to find
the open man," Canisius head coach Jim
Baron said. "Temple is a really good team. They're going to win a lot of
games this year. I think when we went with four guards midway through the
second half, we screwed them up a bit and that allowed us to take them off the
dribble and move the ball to open shooters. We also did a good job rebounding
again and that took away any chances for them to get second-chance points. This
is another solid win for this program."

Canisius trailed Temple by eight
points at 42-34 with 17:10 left in the game, but Sosa cut that cushion to five
points with one of his three second-half 3-pointers on Canisius' next trip down
the floor to make the score 42-37. After Baron hit a pair of free-throws to
make the score 42-39, Sosa drove to the basket and laid one off the glass to
make it a one-point game at 42-41 with 14:25 left. After the Owls went down the
court and came up empty, Sosa gave the Blue and Gold the lead when he knocked
down a jumper from 15-feet to put the Griffs up 43-42 with 13:52 left on the
clock.

Temple scored the game's next five
points to regain the lead at 47-43 with 12:54 left to play, but a bucket by
senior Freddy Asprilla and a
3-pointer by senior Alshwan Hymes gave
the Griffs the lead back at 48-47 with 11:09 left. Groves hit three 3-point
field goals over the game's next 1:50 to give Canisius a 57-51 hold, but the
Owls rallied back and took a 58-57 lead with 5:59 left to play on a dunk by
Anthony Lee. That basket would be Temple's last field goal for the next 3:41,
as the Blue and Gold would end up out scoring the Owls by a 7-0 clip to take a
64-58 lead with 2:43 left to play. Canisius would seal the win at the charity
stripe when the team went 8-for-8 from the line in the game's final 90 seconds,
with Baron going 4-for-4 along with Hymes and Manhertz each sinking a pair.

Temple guard Khalif Wyatt scored a
team-high 17 points for Temple while Jake O'Brien came off the bench and added
14 points in 15 minutes of action. In the second half, the Owls shot 25 percent
from the field, 12.5 percent from 3-point land and 57.1 percent from the
free-throw line.

Manhertz added five points to his
game-high 13 rebounds, of which, 11 came off the defensive glass. He was also
credited with four blocked shots, which matches a career high. Groves' four
makes from 3-point land is a new career high for the junior, and he also
tallied two assists and a steal in the victory.

Canisius will return to action
Saturday, Dec. 22, when the squad plays at No. 21 UNLV in Las Vegas. Tipoff in
the Thomas & Mack Center is set for 10 p.m., Eastern time.

Game Notes: This was the fifth all-time meeting between
these two schools, with Temple now leading the series 4-1... The win over the
Owls marks Canisius' first win over an Atlantic 10 school, other than St.
Bonaventure, since the team defeated Duquesne 88-71 during the 1998-99 season... The
victory also marked the Griffs' first win over a member of Philadelphia's famed
Big 5 (La Salle, Penn, Saint Joseph's, Temple and Villanova) since the team
beat Penn in the first game of the 1994-95 Preseason NIT... Canisius has made 61
3-pointers in the last five games... Washington now has scored in double figures
in 33 of his 40 career games as a Canisius player... Baron has five or more
assists in seven contests this season... Heath's 11 rebounds are a season high...
Manhertz is now averaging 11.2 rebounds per game in the Griffs' last six
contests... The Griffs were without the services of junior center Jordan Heath for the second-straight
game... He has an ankle injury and is listed as day-to-day.